Independent Japanese Study for Beginners

I. THE BASICS

a. Writing systems: kanji (漢字), hiragana (ひらがな), katakana (カタカナ), and romaji
b. Japanese grammar: simple but different (or, “Japan’s grammar, simple, different, it is.”)
c. Deciphering dialects: polite vs. street language, masculine vs. feminine words

II. THE PROCESS

a. Setting goals: Why do you want to learn Japanese? What are the benefits? How can you
assess your progress? (Hint: mastering hiragana and katakana in your first few weeks is a
must!)
b. Expectations: Japanese is not a language learned in a day, but it’s never too late to begin!
Pick up where you left off if you’ve gotten lazy.
c. Pitfalls: cultural differences, the horrors of polite language (“Talk to me like I’m trash,
please!”), finding Japanese people willing to speak to you in simple Japanese rather than the
English they’re dying to practice on you, struggling to find a translation or a grammatical
explanation where there is none

III. THE METHOD

a. Resources: use everything you’re offered—what isn’t clicking one day will
provide a welcome change of pace on another, whether it’s a textbook, website,
game, tape, conversation, etc.
b. Day to day: make the most of your interests in Japanese culture, whether it’s
learning the vocabulary for a particular martial art or mastering flower names in
Japanese for ikebana (traditional flower arranging)
c. Different strokes for different folks: not everyone learns the same way, but fortunately with
Japanese, because there are a million aspects to study, there are also a million ways to study it!

GETTING STARTED

By now you’ve probably received at least a few survival guides telling you the ins and outs of basic
Japanese, such as “thank you” (arigatō) and “excuse me” (sumimasen), but here’s a Top Five list of
words you probably didn’t think to learn, or at least didn’t realize would take you extremely far in
communicating with Japanese people. Dazzle your bosses, coworkers, or even people on the street with
the following:

Kawaii: cute—Should almost always be said as if it has at least three exclamation points following it (!!!).
Quite possibly Japan’s favourite word.

Oishii: delicious—Japanese people love to feed you, and excessive repetition of this word when eating
will bring you even more delicious enjoyment in the future. Remember to use even when untrue.

Sugoi: awesome/wicked/great/etc—Use to comment on anything impressive, from the size of the spider
your teachers have just found in the staffroom, to the amazing fireworks displays that light up the summer
skies.

Kakkoii: cool—Similar to sugoi but with the specific nuance of being “cool.” Your students will probably
say this to you if you ever wear sunglasses in their presence.

Atsui: hot—You’ll hear this a lot, especially in these baking summer months. Atsui ne (“It’s really hot,
isn’t it?”) is both a good opener to a conversation and a sufficient conversation in and of itself.
 Recommended Resources
Websites

・ http://www.amazon.co.jp stocks Japanese language textbooks, flashcards, audio

and software and delivers to Japan. Postage is cheap (or free if spending over
￥3000) and they accept cash on delivery.
・ http://www.ajalt.org/sj/index.html teaches survival Japanese for beginners.
Practical spoken Japanese with audio, print-outs and pictures.
・ http://www.jgram.org/ offers an amazing user-updated database of terms and
grammar points, with plenty of real examples.
・ http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/Download.htm provides good beginner materials, online flashcards, audio
downloads of short conversations, and JLPT guides.
・ http:///www.thejapanesepage.com includes basic lessons in learning hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
・ http://www.yamasa.org is a bit hard to navigate but has all the kanji for the Japanese Language
Proficiency Test (JLPT) and great animations to show stroke order.
・ http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.htm offeres a free downloadable word processor and
dictionary for desktop or pocket PC. Useful as a standalone dictionary.
・ http://wakan.manga.cz has a free downloadable dictionary, editor and vocabulary manager for desktop PC.
・ http://www.manythings.org/japanese/links/ is a select list of Japanese language study sites.

Books

・ Japanese for Busy People (ISBN4-7700-1882-7)￥2900 For students who want to

learn spoken Japanese as quickly as possible, especially if exercises are read aloud and
not just written. Good variety of topics without overloading the student with too much
vocabulary. The supplementary workbook is recommended as it helps you to practice
what you’re learning.
・ Minna No Nihongo is a series that comes in two parts: the translation and grammar
book (available in many languages <http://www.3anet.co.jp/english/books/text_e_m_trans.html>) and the
main textbook (available in romaji or kana <http://www.3anet.co.jp/english/books/text_e_m_main.html>). It's
a good book for self-studying beginners who want to learn to converse in Japanese, though sometimes the
grammar is a bit unclear and needs explanation from a teacher or native speaker.
・ Basic Japanese for Students (ISBN4-88319-236-9) ￥2200 Fairly comprehensive beginner’s course in 30
chapters. Lots of vocab, grammar, exercises with explanation to give you the gist. Finish this, and you’ll
have basic conversation down. Romaji and hiragana throughout, but not much kanji. Sometimes not enough
detail to explain grammar, as it is designed as an accompaniment to classroom lessons.
・ A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (ISBN4-7890-0454-6) ￥2800 Not a textbook, but a grammar
dictionary, this is a bit of a heavyweight academic text, giving an analysis of the characteristics of Japanese
grammar, and detailed explanations of the most important grammar points. Not for total beginners, but will
be incredibly useful in a few months.
・ Kana Can Be Easy by Kunihiko Ogawa (ISBN4-7890-0517-8) ￥1165 This book uses a simple method to
teach hiragana and katakana using pictorial mnemonics.
・ Let’s Learn Kanji (ISBN4-7700-2068-6) This book is excellent if used alongside another kanji book. Rather
than teach individual figures straight away it teaches you the components and radicals, their meanings, and
stroke order, etc. It really helps you to memorize complex characters later on if you are diligent.
・ Kodansha’s Furigana Japanese Dictionary (4-7700-2480-0) ￥6800 A great bilingual dictionary written in
Japanese characters with furigana (pronunciation guides written above all the kanji). Start with this, and your
reading skills will leap ahead. Has excellent example sentences, and very useful verb tables and grammar
notes too. However, it is big and bulky, and slow at first while you’re still learning kana.
・ Kodansha’s Essential Kanji Dictionary (ISBN4-7700-2891-1) ￥4200 Decode the cryptic signs all around
you with a kanji dictionary. Lists all the main kanji compound words. A good companion to the regular
dictionary.

Gambatte kudasai!・がんばってください！・/頑張って下さい！